NaruHhna Obstacles
by Ashken18
Summary: This is a story about how Naruto and Hinata's relationship can be greatly unappreciated and even prone for termination by people related to Hinata....and even some friends.
1. Chapter 1

1All was well, between Naruto and his new girlfriend Hinata. Two weeks ago, Naruto had finally opened his heart out about the sleepless nights and regretful moments that he had lived without her. Of course, with Hinata feeling the same about him, accepted his request of her being his girlfriend. The new duo spent the last couple of days going on romantic dates, (Naruto actually got these ideas from Sasuke who noticed that the two weren't doing anything the first week.), leading up to this day. Naruto woke up from the piercing screech of his obnoxious alarm clock. He pulled the bedspread off of his head and slapped the alarm's snooze button.

Nothing happened...

Naruto, who was now aggravated by the piercing screech of the clock, pounded his fist on the top of the clock.

Once again, nothing happened...

Now ticked off, Naruto pulled a kunai out from under his pillow and impaled it through the clocks screen. The clock then gave a crackle and a pop, and then started smoking. Naruto kicked the clock onto the floor as he rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

"Damn clock" he thought to himself. "Why the hell is it waking me up so early?"

Today was the big day that he was waiting for and prepared for ever since he first decided he wanted to spend his life with Hinata. And, even though today was that day, all he could think about was how much that alarm pissed him off. He stared at the ceiling for another moment until it finally dawned on him.

"Oh, crap! I'm having breakfast with Hinata in an hour!!"

He scurried out of bed, hopped out his clothes, and jumped into the shower. He turned the shower and bit his lip, pushing his head into the wall of the shower as he waited for the frigid water to warm up. Once it had, he frantically began washing his body, shampooing his hair, gurgling with the water that came out of the head, anything that he could perfect so that he was nice and clean for Hinata. After his shower, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, combed his hair(Which was futile because of how it went back to it's original spikey-haired state),flossed, brushed his teeth again, put on some boxers and sprinted into the kitchen.

"I need to make ramen!" he shouted. He pulled a pot out of the cabinet and filled it with water as he placed the pot on the stove and turned the dial to six. He rushed over to the refrigerator and opened it. Inside sat a large purple box with a black ribbon on it.

"Okay. Water's boiling, present is nice and chilled..." he thought as he took the present out of the refrigerator and sat it on the counter near the door. "Now, what am I going to wear?"

He dashed into his room and threw open his closet.

"Let's see here...Jump suit..Jump Suit,,Oh! That's- another jump suit...Argh!" he cried as he launched himself inside and searched for anything that wasn't what he normally wore.

He ultimately ended up with a pair of khaki slacks and a black polo shirt. He threw them on, put on some deodorant, grabbed his wallet and put it in his pocket, and headed back into the kitchen. The water had began to boil, so he threw some ramen into the pot and waited. He looked at the microwave. 8:45...

"Damn, ten minutes." he thought.

He went over to the cabinet and pulled out a basket. He placed a folded picnic blanket and Hinata's present inside and a couple of bottles of water in it. Now he waited for the ramen to become tender. Once it had, he stirred it around tor a while and began adding seasonings to it. Once it had reached the perfect taste, he took it off the stove and let it cool while he placed bowls, knives, forks, and chopsticks in the basket. He took out a large plastic bowl which he poured the ramen into and placed a top on it. He sat it in the basket, closed it, picked it up and hurried out the door...

He arrived a few minutes later at the tree which he and Hinata were going to have breakfast under. As he walked up to the tree, he could see she was standing next to the tree looking out into the fields as the wind blew. Naruto just stopped and stared at her from the back as the wind blew her hair and whatever loose ornaments she wore on her coat. But, he felt that something was not right...

"Hey, Hinata! Sorry I'm la-," he said as he hurried around the tree.

She jumped, pulled out a kunai, and put it up to Naruto's throat as though he was a threat, but she quickly subsided. She knew not to get Naruto started about her being in danger, even though...

"Oh, Naruto. It's you," she said in a relieved voice as she slipped the kunai back in her weapons pouch.

"Yeah..are you okay?" he asked noticing she was wearing her normal garb.

She grabbed his hand, "We can't stay here..you can't stay here. If you stay, we'll both be in trouble with-," she stopped talking. Hesitating once more, she looked down and put her hand on her chest, like she always does.

"Dammit, why do I always get tense like this..." she cursed herself.

"In trouble with who? Tell me! I'll beat the living crap out of them!" Naruto ranted on.

Suddenly, a figure walked out from behind the tree, behind Hinata. Because of the shadow of the tree and the fact that Naruto could only see the person's profile, he had no idea who it was. It quickly stepped forward and struck Hinata in that back, causing her to fall into Naruto's arms, incapacitated.

"Hinata! What the hell?" he cried.

He looked up and saw that the blur that had struck her had actually been Neji, Hinata's proclaimed brother.

"Neji? What's your problem, man?" Naruto shouted.

"My problem, Naruto," Neji answered. "Is you."

Naruto carefully laid Hinata's body onto the ground and stood to Neji.

"What do you mean? Why did you do this?" he asked.

Neji pounced at Naruto and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Naruto cursed at him as he swung him against the tree and punched him in the face.

"I did it so that my sister didn't have to see this!" Neji said as he removed a kunai from his weapons holster and stabbed it into Naruto's left collarbone.

He gave out a blood-curdling scream as he dropped to his knees and put his right hand on the kunai which had impaled at least an inch and a half into his body. He held his breath for a second and held his head away from the wound as he gave a quick yank on the blade. He removed it with a sharp, "Ah!" as he began breathing hard, trying to hold back the blood. Neji squatted down to Naruto and looked at him for a minute. Then, pulling up on Naruto's hair, he punched him underneath the ribs. He cried and bent over trying to catch his breath as he began coughing. Neji pulled him up by his hair as he stood up and took out another kunai.

"I want you to say that you will leave my sister alone," Neji demanded.

A moment went by without Naruto saying anything. He was thinking.

"You know what," Naruto finally responded in a raspy voice. "You can go to hell. Hinata and I are in love with each other, and if you think I'm gonna just leave her alone because you roughed me up a little bit, well, you better pull your head out of your ass!"

Naruto quickly grabbed his arm and twisted it. He jumped to his feet, still holding Neji's arm, and kicked him in the back of his leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Then he shoved the kunai into Neji's stomach and pulled it back out. Neji fell on to his side, holding his wound as Naruto raised the kunai over his head with two hands.

"You gonna kill me?" Neji chucked once he finally looked up at him.

"Yeah, I am." Naruto replied.

"Well, then...I guess all I have to say to you is...you better watch your back," Neji smiled.

Just as Neji said that, Naruto began to bring the blade down on Neji until he felt a pain in his back and stomach.

"What the?" he thought.

He looked down and saw the end of a blade impaled through his stomach. His eyes widened as he brought his hand to his sides and dropped the kunai. As he fell to his knees the blade was pulled out of him. He dropped to the ground and stared at the sky. He looked at Neji who was now kneeling over him.

"I told you, 'watch your back' but did you listen?" he said coldly.

Naruto looked to the opposite of Neji and gasped at what he saw.

There, stood Sasuke, his best friend, holding the blood-drenched sword which he used to impale Naruto.

"Don't worry," he smirked coldly. "Your little Hinata will be fine..."

He walked over to Neji and helped him to his feet.

"Maybe if you had said, 'yeah, I'll leave her alone,' or something like that, I would have spared you," Neji mocked Naruto.

"Sa..suke?" Naruto uttered from his mouth as tears poured from his eyes, blood from his mouth, "Why?"

Just as he spoke. Sasuke stomped on his face and all went black...

"Don't die, Naruto..." was whispered...


	2. Naruhina Obstacles pt 2

...darkness...darkness...darkness...

Naruto laid on his back, eyes closed, staring at nothing, shrouded in darkness...

"Is this death?" he thought to himself. "This can't be, I can't be dead, not today, anyways...My body feels stiff...My lungs feel deflated...My heart stopped...But,"

He tried to move his arms. Nothing happened. He tried to open his mouth...Nothing happened. He tried to breathe...Nothing happened.

"No way!" he shouted in his mind. " This can't be happening...I won't let this happen!"

He continued struggling to make his body respond, but his efforts were unresolved. He couldn't even open his eyes, not one bit of movement could be performed by his body. Never before had he been able to be so motionless...even on his missions where absolute stillness was a must, he had never been like this...he didn't like it.

"I'm not giving up on this!"he cried as he still struggled ta make the slightest jolt of movement. He began to give up hope...

"I don't wanna die," he mentally whimpered. "I want to live. I want to breathe... I want... to love..."

"Naruto..." went a soft voice...

"What was that?" he thought...

"Wake up, Naruto..." the voice cried, gradually getting louder.

"It sounds familiar...could it be-"...

"Come back to me, Naruto!" The voice cried even louder.

"It is, it's Hinata! Oh my god, if I can hear her, then maybe..." he thought.

Hearing her voice was the last ounce of persuasion that he needed to regain his faith in getting out of the darkness.

"Screw this! I'm getting outta here!" he shouted.

With all his might, he tried to breathe again. Still nothing..

"Dammit! How am I gonna get outta here?" He thought. "Think, Naruto."

This time he tried moving, breathing, shouting, any action he could think of to break him self through the darkness, until finally...

Suddenly, Naruto shot his eyes open and began coughing and chocking. As he held his throat, he looked around the room, noticing it was almost as black as the darkness. Then he withdrew that opinion, knowing good and well that his room had nothing on that place.

"Man, that place was horrible!" he thought out loud.

He stopped chocking and caught his breath. He took a couple of minutes to think...

"...Hey! Where's Hinata?" It came to him.

He pulled the sheets off of him and climbed out of the bed. He walked towards the door and began to open it, then stopped. He looked at the floor at the foot of his bed. There lay Hinata, sleeping under a blanket. Naruto's heart regained warmth as he walked over to her and knelt on the floor. He placed his hand on her cheek and brushed her hair back behind her ear.

"I'm so glad you're okay..." he thought to himself as he began to caress her face.

But his thought had been scarred. As soon as he took his hand off her face, the memory of being lethally assaulted by Hinata's brother flashed before his eyes. He froze for a moment while beginning to stand up and thought about what had taken place. How Hinata's vengeful brother threatened to rid him of his time with her.

"That bastard..." Naruto cursed at Neji. "If he wants a war, I'll give him a war."

Another vision showed before him, though, this time was still. The grim smirk from Sasuke to Naruto as he helped Neji of the ground. Holding the very sword that had sent him into his hell bound abyss. Naruto almost gagged at the thought that they had once called each other friends.

"Sasuke.." Naruto thought to himself in profound hatred. "You traitor..."

"Naruto?" whispered a voice.

He quickly looked down to see Hinata's bright face smiling at him with tears trickling down her face.

"You're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine..you?" Naruto replied.

"I'll be alright. How do your wounds feel?"

"My wounds?" Naruto thought.

He raised up his shirt and gazed at the bandage that was wrapped around his abdomen. Then, he took his shirt off and stared at the bandage that covered his left collarbone and shoulder.

'They don't hurt at all," He replied.

He unraveled the bandage that was tied around his waist and was shocked to see that there was not sign that he was even impaled. The same went without saying for his collarbone.

"The Nine Tailed Fox..." Naruto thought to himself. "It came through for me again..."

Naruto walked over to his wastebasket and dropped the bandages inside. All they were to him were pieces of paper that reminded him of the tragic events that took place that morning.

"I'm gonna need some help with this," he though to himself.

As soon as he turned around, Hinata embraced him with her arms. She put her head against his chest and stood there., holding on tightly.

"Promise me you won't scare me like that again." she said softly.

Naruto looked at her for a moment, and sighed. He'd hate to tell her the truth, that he's gonna have to fight Neji. He knew that the look on Hinata's face would just break his heart, so he prepared for it.

"I wish I could." he replied, "But, this isn't gonna stop unless either me or Neji is out of the picture... And I'm not leaving you without a fight, a battle, or a war."

Her eyes began to run, "If you die, I could never forgive you," she threatened as she burst into tears.

And, broken his heart became. The thought that saying something to her that would make her cry the way that she began made it difficult to bear. But, he knew that It was a brief punch he was going to have to take.

"Well, that's a risk one of us is going to have to take."he replied.

Hinata sobbed cried in his chest as Naruto placed his hands on the dack of her head and rubbed her back.

"Listen. I know this isn't what you or I could possibly want right now, or ever. But, it wasn't a decision that I'm in the position to make." he explained.

"It'll be okay," Naruto said to console her. "I hope..." He thought

"I-I-ju-just don't want t-to lo-lose you," she sobbed staring into his eyes.

"Then fight with me," he replied starring directly back.

"What?" she asked.

"Fight Neji with me. If you have my back, I know we'll never be apart. If we fight together, then we'll die together." he explained. "But, if you don't fight with me, I die..."

Hinata, still holding him tight, loosened her grip. She now had to choose between her brother, and the man that she loves. She looked down and said,

"I don't know if I can make that decision right now..."

That's alright," Naruto said, wiping her cheeks with his thumb. "Why don't we sleep on it?"

She smiled, "I think that's a good idea."

"Ah! A smile...that's what I like to see." Naruto said goofily, making her giggle.

She hugged him again as he wrapped his arm around her and walked over to the bed. Naruto sat down on the bed and looked at her. She smiled, then bent over and kissed his on the forehead.

"I love you," she whispered softly in his ear.

As she began walking over to the foot of the bed, He grabbed her arm.

"Wait" he said.

He walked over to Hinata and grabbed her waist, as he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips. They continued kissing for about ten seconds, then Hinata said,

"If you want I could keep you company, you know, while we sleep." Her cheeks where completely red.

"I would like that,"Naruto grinned.

The two of them stared in each others eyes for a second, until Naruto finally climbed into bed. Hinata sat on the edge of the bed and took off her coat, laying it on the floor. She got underneath the sheets and scuffled across the bed over towards Naruto, who put his arm around her.

"Wow," Hinata thought to herself, "I didn't know this was so comfortable. Sleeping with Naruto."

"'Night," He said.

"Good night," she replied.

A tear rolled down Naruto's face as they drifted off to sleep.

The next morning came, rather abruptly to Naruto, but for Hinata, it was one of the best nights of sleep she'd had in a long time. The two of them stretched and yawned as they emerged from underneath the sheets.

"Good morning," Hinata greeted Naruto.

"'Morning," he said as he gave her kiss on the lips.

Then, his eyes shot open and he scurried over Hinata and out of the bed, "I'll be right back," he called.

"Okay!" Hinata called back, hugging the pillow she slept on.

Naruto ran into the kitchen and grabbed the telephone the sat on the counter. He dialed a series of numbers and listened to the phone ring.

On the other line, Ashken sat across from M.C. holding two cards in his hand. The two of them had a minor dispute over who was the better poker player,(despite the fact that he had only beaten her once out of 13 matches), so the two of them stayed up all night(they started at 10:00), and played a round of Heads Up 5-Card Draw. Ashken played around with the toothpick he had in his mouth as he pondered his next move. In his hand, he had drawn an Ace of Diamonds, an Ace of Spades, a 6 of Clubs, a 5 of Clubs, and a 6 of Hearts, rendering him with a two pair, Aces and Sixes. 500 was already in the pot and M.C. just bet him another 500. He looked across the table and observed her stack of chips, which wasn't really much bigger than his.

"If I force her all-in..." he thought.

Suddenly, the phone rang on the table they were playing on. Ashken placed his cards face down. As he picked up the phone and looked at the caller I.D.

"Eh. Naruto, huh?" he chuckled to himself..

"Naruto?" M.C. repeated as in an interested tone of voice. "He hasn't called in ages."

Ashken turned on the phone, "What's the problem, now?" he asked.

"Hey, Ashken. I need you to, kinda, come down here and help me kill off some people.."

"Are you serious about this? Do you just need intimidation or are we talking extra man-power?" Ashken asked as M.C. became even more interested by the conversation.

"...Somebody could die," Naurto replied

Ashken hung up the phone and threw his money into the pot.

"I call," he said.

It's been a while since Naruto had needed help killing somebody. A potpourri of thoughts filled his mind as he discarded his 5 and drew another card, A 6. He smiled at his full house behind his hands and satisfyingly uttered:

"I'm all-in."

"I'll call," M.C. replied with little hesitation.

As they pushed their piles into the center of table and showed their hands, Ashken gazed in awe as his full house: Sixes full of Aces were dominated by his significant other's four-of-a-kind: Queens...

...A couple hours later, Naruto stood at the oven waiting for the water to boil so he can add his ramen. There was a knock at the door and a call:

"Naruto. It's Ashken." came from outside.

Naruto walked over to the door and let Ashken inside, who then walked right past him and towards Naruto's room.

"Where are you going? Where's M.C.?" Naruto asked frantically.

"She's runnin' errands. I'm going to sleep. Excuse me..." he said as he walked by Hinata in the hallway.

"Ashken? This is bad," She thought to herself.

She walked up to Naruto with her hands behind her back.

"Hmm, weird. Hinata's sleeping in the bed, but I swore I just saw her..." Ashken thought to himself and prepared for the worst.

"Are you sure Ashken is reliable? Can we really trust him?" Hinata asked.

"Of course, why not? He's a friend of mine."

"Hey, Naruto!" Ashken called from the hallway as he walked back to the threshold and leaned against the beam with his hands behind his back, "Are you sure we can trust this little hunny? I don't, considering the fact that she knows my name and I've never spoken to her a single day in my life..." Ashken explained.

Naruto thought about what he was saying, but couldn't wrap his mind around it.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you that she's holding a kunai behind her back!"

Just as Ashken said that, a loud, "Poof!" and a ball of smoke came out from where Hinata was standing and a girl in red garb stood there, staring back at Naruto. Naruto stared back, first astonished , then relieved, but all in all, he was just confused.

"Sakura?! What are you doin-,"

He was interrupted by Sakura punching him in the mouth. Now, with Naruto on the ground, she climbed on top of him and held the kunai above her head. She sobbed and tears ran down her eyes as she pinned her fist against his chest.

"I didn't want to do this!" she cried.

Naruto quickly went from relieved to enraged. This was the second person who was of a close relationship with him that had decided to betray him. Who else was going to try to hurt him? Hinata herself? Just as Sakura was about to stab him, Ashken charged over to her and speared her onto the ground, off of Naruto. He looked to his left to see the two of them wrestle on the ground, and watched as Sakura stuck the kunai deep into Ashken's stomach.

"Ah! You little bitch!" he shouted.

He removed a kunai from his back pocket as he pinned Sakura on the ground by her throat. He extended his arm out and tightened his grip on her neck while she grabbed his arm, trying to pull him off.

"I never thought I'd see you again." he said as she continued to resist him.

Naruto looked puzzled, "You know her?"

"Yeah, she and M.C. spent a summer together, but that didn't turn out very well. But enough about me, let's try to hear why this dame is here in the first place.

Ashken removed his grip from her throat and quickly pinned her down by her shoulders, placing the kunai in his teeth. She began breathing hard, then she started talking.

"Neji asked me to come. He said that he'll kill everyone I love if I don't, even Sasuke." she confessed.

Naruto stared at her in awe.

"What makes you think that it would be a great idea to listen to him? I'm you're friend, he's Neji. I'm the one who's fought alongside you, held your position, not Neji!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs as Sakura began sobbing on the floor, bawling her eyes out.

"Well then, We'll show them what happens when people listen to Neji..." he said.

Naruto quickly looked at Ashken and nodded. Ashken then grabbed Sakura by the throat again, and she continued to struggle.

"Please don't! She shouted. "Please don't kill me!"

But Ashken didn't care what she said. As soon as she stopped squirming, he plunged the kunai into her chest, piercing her heart. Ashken rolled onto the floor and began coughing up blood. Naruto quickly crawled over to Ashken.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

"I think so..." he groaned as he jerked the kunai out of his stomach.

The two of them sat against the sink and stared with tears rolling down their eyes at their friend's lifeless body stare coldly back at them as her body emptied blood across the kitchen floor.

"It was her or us? Right?" Naruto whimpered.

"Yeah, that's right, her or us," Ashken answered, closing his eyes.

Sunset filtered in through the window over the sink and from the screen on the door, casting an ironic blend of warmth and death upon the kitchen, enhancing the blood's crimson into a metallic orange. Naruto found himself looking at the threshold to see Hinata standing there, cupping her mouth and a orange-yellow tear dripping down her face. Naruto motioned her over to him, which she did, still not taking her eyes off of the corpse of a peer. She sat next to him and laid her cheek on his chest as he kissed her on the head and put his arm on her shoulder. Ashken put his hand on Naruto's head and looked at him as Naruto turned his head to look back.

"We'll be alright, I'll make sure of that." Ashken assured him, looking him straight in the eye.

They both smiled at each other...

"You're next, Sasuke" Naruto thought to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

1"It's never easy for anyone to take a life, the human mind wasn't created to kill other humans. But, shouldn't it have? In order to have equilibrium, you must have a good and a bad, a positive and negative. So, if one of the mind's most potent emotion; love, is to be balanced out, it must have an opposite; hate. The irony behind it all is the fact that both love and hate, when tested to the extreme, can cause you to kill. Why did you want me to kill her, Naruto? Do you believe she would be better off, or do you think she should die because of the path she took?"

Ashken's philosophical struck a puzzled look on Naruto's face, but he soon figured out what he was talking about.

"I think it was because of love. Out of love, I knew she would be better off dead. If she would kill me, she would be gravely depressed, and if she didn't, and Neji did do what he said, the same result. It was a lose-lose situation for her. Either way she could have even taken her own life...she was better off letting us do it for her," Naruto answered as the two of them stood outside his door, starring at the stars.

The glossy lighting from the moon's surface gave a dull glow on the surrounding townhouses. Naruto stared up at the sky, knowing that Sakura's up there cheering for him. Or, she could be trapped in that darkness, for all eternity. The very thought of being back there sent a numbness to his brain, as if trying to force the image out of his head. Ashken steeped towards the door and opened it.

"I'm heading off to bed. Don't stay up past nine, we start in the morning," Ashken reminded as he walked inside and shut the door behind him.

Naruto continued to stand, thinking about what Ashken had said.

"If love and hate can both cause death, what does that mean?" he pondered out loud.

"It means that death knows no emotion," A voice suddenly said.

Naruto jumped and M.C. walked through the door as she laughed and stood next to him.

"Sorry to eavesdrop on you like that. It's been a while since you've had to kill someone, huh?" she asked.

Naruto nodded and looked at the ground.

"I'm fighting because of love and hate," he said. "I love Hinata and would, with no doubt in my mind, kill the person who tries to harm her. But, at the same time, I hate Neji so much for inflicting pain on her, I don't under stand why I haven't just gone out and killed him yet."

M.C. smiled and put her arm around Naruto, "You have both a great wall of hate and a great wall of love built up inside of you. You don't go out and relentlessly murder the people who've harmed you and Hinata, but at the same time, you don't sit back and let them try it again, either... I think, out of all of us,_ you're_ the one that's balanced."

Naruto looked up at M.C.

"Remember that," she said as she gave him a hug and walked back inside.

A moment went by as Naruto thought about what she could mean. He didn't really grasp a concept of what she was saying, so he just left it alone.

"I'm the one that's balanced, huh?" he thought, "That's funny..."

He took one last look at the moon, then walked inside...

Naruto was the last one to wake up the next morning, partially by the fault of Ashken. Naruto spent the majority of the night thinking/dreaming of Ashken's question, causing him to sleep through the constant slaps on the head by M.C. Once he finally had awaken, everyone else had put together Naruto's table in the kitchen and sat there, polishing weapons. Naruto climbed slowly out of bed and staggered along the hallway into the kitchen where he could hear Ashken and M.C.'s voices.

"Well, well...look who's out of their coma," Ashken said as he placed the kunai he was polishing back on the table.

"What's for breakfast?" Naruto yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

"That was two hours ago, buddy, you missed it," M.C. mocked him.

Hinata gave astern look at M.C. then smiled at Naruto, "I'll fix you something Naruto." she said in her soft soprano tone, "Why don't you go take a shower?" she suggested.

"Well... thanks, Hinata." Naruto said with a surprised look on his face.

As Naruto wondered towards the bathroom, Hinata stood up from her seat and walked over to the cabinet.

"You're cooking for him now?" Ashken asked heartily, "pretty soon, you and him are going to be really fond of each other...if you know what I mean."

Hinata's face turned blood red.

"Ashken!" M.C. shouted.

"What?" Ashken said as he got up and walked over to M.C.

He cupped her chin and her chin and held it up towards his face as he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

"You know it's true," he said in a deep voice as he looked into M.C.'s eyes.

She starred back with a smile and put her hand on his face, as thought to kiss him. But as soon as he closed his eyes, she cocked her arm back and punched him under the rib cage. He coughed and wheezed as he dropped to the floor, clutching his stomach. M.C. began polishing a kunai...

Naruto stood in the shower leaning with his arm on the wall. As the water flowed out of the faucet and on to his head, as stared at the floor, thinking even more about what Ashken's question and M.C.'s explanation.

"I'm the one that's balanced? I'm probably the one who's the most out of wack..."

The echoing sound of a million drops of water hitting a porcelain foundation filled his ears and, with time, was drowned out by his mind, concentrating on being aware, concentrating on being aware, concentrating...

Once Ashken had gathered control of his breathing again, he climbed back into his seat and continued to polish. Hinata now had a pot of water boiling o the stove and she had laid out a few spices, some pork, a diced onion, and sticks of ramen. She looked down at the ground and put her hand on her chest as she became nervous.

"I hope that they'll forgive me for this," she thought to herself.

She turned around and walked over to M.C., who looked up and smiled at her. Hinata then bent over and gave M.C. a hug.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"It's an apology," Hinata answered as she continued to hug her.

"For what?" M.C. asked with a puzzled look.

Hinata let go of M.C. and stepped behind her, facing the back of her head. "For this," Hinata said as she struck M.C. in the back.

She gave a small gasp as she collapsed on the table at then rolled onto the floor completely incapacitated. Ashken immediately jumped to his feet and sprung out from behind the table.

"What are you doing?" He shouted.

"Please, Ashken, I don't want to hurt you," Hinata began to cry.

"What do you mean? Why are you doing this?"

Hinata sprinted from behind the table towards Ashken. He tried to put up a defense, but she quickly struck him in the chest with the palm of her hand. She pulled her hand way and stepped back.

"What the hell was that.?" Ashken thought.

"I just struck you in the heart with a soft punch that the Hyuuga clan uses in order to stealthily dispatch foes. First, you will feel slightly dizzy, and fall to your knees while you heart rate and breathing picks up speed."

Ashken gave a confused look at Hinata, but then quickly began to loose his balance. Hinata sprang forward and caught him before he hit the ground. She laid his head across her lap as she sat against the cabinet.

"Are you feeling sleepy?" she asked, chocking on her tears."

"Ye-,"

"No," Hinata said, covering his mouth, "Don't waste your energy with talking,"

Her tears flowed down her face and into her coat as she stroked Ashken's hair. His breathing became very hoarse and clogged, and his eyes began to flutter as he tried to stay awake, knowing that If he fell asleep, he might wake up in darkness.

"Don't worry, you're not going to die. But, you must listen to what I say,"

She placed two fingers on his eyelids and closed them while she continued to cry.

"As long as you focus on my voice, and not ton your heart, you will survive." she said.

She began to hum for a minute, and then she began to gently sing.

"Don't turn away...I pray you've hear the words I've spoken.

Dare to believe, oh, for one last time...

Then I'll let the darkness cover me...

Deny everything.

Slowly turn away to breathe again...

On my own...

The darkness blinds me from the world I know.

The darkness binds me from the love I've shown...

The darkness mutes me from the words I've spoken...

The darkness eludes me from the mind I've opened, so, please,

Don't turn away...I pray you've hear the words I've spoken.

Dare to believe, oh, for one last time...

Then I'll let the darkness cover me...

Deny everything.

Slowly turn away to breathe again...

On my own...

On my own..."

Almost instantaneously, the sky darkened and clouds formed, blocking out the sun. The dark moisture that seeped in through the door as the slight drizzle from the atmosphere transformed into a heavy downpour and casted a mixture between an extremely light blue and a bold grey gloom upon the kitchen. The moisture caused a depressing thickness from the moisture outside to combine with the steam that crept in from Naruto's shower, causing the air to become rather uncomfortable to inhale . Ashken, who now had blood falling from his mouth, gave a small grin. Then, his smile faded and his head went limp...

"I hope you'll forgive me...Naruto..."


End file.
